Seven Princesses
by Wally Boswell
Summary: Atlantis has fallen, a prophecy has been made, can seven very different women save the continent of Atlantis from the Cataclsym and the rise of a Shadow King
1. A Prophecy

Atlantis had fallen, the Amazons were the only race left to stand against the Kryptonian conquerors. The rest of the continent had fallen, the humans and elves driven from their countries by the might of Queen Astra and her hordes. Queen Hippolyta stood up in her stirrups viewing the valley below, the battlefield that could very well be the last stand for her people.

Their final battle began the next morning, at dawn. The Amazonian cavalry charged down the field, her archers released their arrows and she was satisfied to see several of the black-armored Kryptonians fall. Then her witches struck; they had discovered the Kryptonian weakness to magic too late to turn the tide for the rest of the continent, but here it could help. The magic stopped their forward momentum, but then their snipers targeted the witches, dropping six of her sisters in their first volley. The witches fell back as their numbers were quickly being decimated. Hippolyta's cavalry met Astra's heavy infantry and drove them back, but Hippolyta recognized the clever trap: Astra's troops were meant to surround and destroy the cavalry, but quick thinking by Antiope saved them, as she withdrew them quickly.

Then the infantries met in the middle of the field and the true chaos of battle began, swords clashed, and bodies fell. With all their strength, the Kryptonians did not possess the skill of the Amazons, so the fight was even. Then she saw Astra stride fearlessly into the mayhem, wielding that damned glowing green sword and slashing it as a woman possessed. Before she realized what, she was doing, Hippolyta drew her own sword and waded into the battle, drawn by the glow. Both women were moving like shadows through the battle and nothing could stand in their way.

Calliope fell, the green blade piercing her leg and she screamed as Astra ripped it free. The green blade was raised above her head, as Calliope looked into the eyes of her killer. She watched the blade descend, her eyes never leaving Astra's. Then the blade stopped, and Calliope blinked as she saw Tarie, the Queen's own sword block the green blade. She sighed a thankful prayer to Artemis and Athena as Hippolyta stepped in front of her directly into Astra's face.

"You wish to fight? Fight me, Kryptonian!" Hippolyta yelled over the deafening noise of the battle

Astra grinned menacingly, stepping back. "Are you challenging me, Amazon? Do you wish to die?"

Hippolyta matched the grin, setting herself firmly. She noticed everything, the set of Astra's hands on the hilt of her sword, the way her feet were set, Calliope's pained movements behind her, the sounds of the battle fading as her focus set on the warrior before her. She noticed a small shift in Astra's movements and brought Tarie up to deflect the green blade of the Kryptonian. Their blades clashed together as their eyes met, blue on grey. As strong as Astra was, Hippolyta was perhaps her match.

The Kryptonian backed away, it seemed as if the field of battle had formed a circle around the two warriors. Astra admired the way the Amazon relaxed into the fight, her eyes giving nothing away. She did notice a shift of the hands as the Amazon launched her attack, but suddenly it didn't matter as she was on the defensive. The Amazon may lack Kryptonian strength, but she was faster than Astra could ever hope to be. Her sword moved in a blur and Astra's was blocking by pure instinct, but even she wasn't perfect, and she missed one block and caught the tip of the Amazon blade in her shoulder. She grunted in pain as Hippolyta ripped the blade from her shoulder, but she refused to stop. Anger surged, and she launched herself at Hippolyta swinging her own sword in huge overhead strikes, driving the Amazon back. Hippolyta lost her footing and Astra swung the sword at her stomach. The only thing that saved her from being eviscerated was a stumble that pulled her away, the tip of the sword catching her across the abdomen and cutting through her leather armor and drawing blood across her abdomen.

The fighting was dying down across the battlefield as these two warriors continued to fight until there was no sound but the ringing of Amazon steel on Kryptonian crystal. The two women could draw no more blood, and their bodies were betraying them, weakened from battle and from blood loss, until finally, Hippolyta held up her hand, stopping Astra in her tracks.

"This fight... It could last days..." Hippolyta breathed out heavily.

"Uhh... I agree." Astra grunted.

Both women fell to a sitting position and looked at each other solemnly. "Truce," they both said at the same time.

An agreement was reached that the Amazon's would return to Themyscira, the largest of Atlantis' kingdoms, and everything east of the battlefield would belong to the Kryptonians. The battlefield itself was declared neutral ground by both kingdoms. As a gesture of peace, the two Queens exchanged swords. The Amazons then gathered their dead and wounded and moved tiredly back to the top of the valley and as they moved, a mist started to form around them hiding Themyscira and protecting the Amazons.

Hippolyta rode at the front of her army, leading her sisters back to the capital, as they passed through the gates, a messenger met them, begging her to come to the Temple of Hera. Hippolyta relayed orders to her captains to take care of the injured and dead and then she and Antiope rode towards the hilltop temple. They dismounted, exhausted, but as leaders to their people, they had a duty to the temple, to their gods.

"Xanthippe is in the main hall, your Grace." One of the handmaidens pointed them in the direction of the center of the temple.

Hippolyta and Antiope headed down the hall, finding Xanthippe in the hall. Of all the Amazons, only Xanthippe seemed old, her red hair showing signs of silver, a new strand appearing each time she made a prophecy. Her green eyes were also unusual among the women of Themyscira and they shone with the glint of unshared knowledge all the time.

"Your Grace, General, it is so good to have you home again. You reached a peace as I predicted." Xanthippe stated, smiling at the two women, then suddenly her eyes glazed over, becoming a milky white and she started to speak in a monotone.

_"Snow brings darkness and light._

_A soul torn in half by wild magic and evil_

_One half with, and one half without_

_One who wields and one who fears_

_When the two halves are reunited_

_Only then will Atlantis be saved from the Shadow of her destruction"_

The color returned to Xanthippe's eyes and she looked at her queen and mumbled, "Your daughter… Seven princess…" Before she could finish, Xanthippe's eyes rolled back, and she fainted into the arms of the Queen.

"I have no daughter."

1500 years later, the Kryptonians had succumbed to the magic of the world, their strength drained as they now use magic just as humans and elves. Atlantis has splintered into six kingdoms, humans, elves, and Kryptonians live with a semblance of peace. Alura, Queen of Argo, the last pure Kryptonian kingdom is ready to deliver her child, while in the human Kingdom of Nereus, Queen Patricia Arias and her consort, prince Kurn Zod, a Kryptonian, patiently waited for their firstborn to arrive.

As both children decided it was time to come into the world, snow began to fall across all of Atlantis, and as the babies were born, a wave of magic rolled across the island, affecting none except the two baby girls that were born that evening. The first to be struck was Princess Kara Zor-El of Argo, who was crying as most babes did. When the wave struck the newborn girl stopped crying and her ice-blue eyes darkened to the color of cerulean. While in Nereus, the newborn Princess, Samantha Arias, of the House of Zod, took her first breath as the wave struck, causing her newborn eyes to flash gold and then settle into a deep rich brown with gold flecks.

In Themyscira, Hippolyta was awakened by her house guard. "Your Grace! Your Grace, you told us to wake you if… If ever it snowed."

Hippolyta shot upright in her bed; her blue eyes wide in fear. She flew from her bed to her balcony and saw the snow falling. She rushed back to her bed and grabbed her cloak, running down the hallway to another room. She pushed open the door and looked in, her daughter, her Diana, captain of the royal guard, the finest warrior in all of Themyscira, was asleep, unaware at her place in the fate of Atlantis...


	2. Life Changes

Thirteen-year-old Princess Kara Zor-El was working through her Klukor forms with her cousin Kal and her Aunt Astra. Clark has recently celebrated his 30th birthday and had earned his final honors as a Knight of Rao. He was dressed in leather breeches, the same blood red as Rao's eternal sunrise, shirtless and shoeless as his order demanded when practicing. He was tall and heavily built, even for a Kryptonian, with hair dark as night and ice blue eyes that matched the rest of the El bloodline.

Astra was smaller than Kal and lithe like a dancer. She was the twin sister of Kara's mother Alura, but she carried herself as a warrior, much like a wild cat prowling on the edges of the forest. Her eyes were steel grey and never gave away a thought and she wore her brown hair in a loose ponytail, the grey streak from a magic spell gone bad evident throughout. She dressed for practice in the house colors. Leather breeches dyed blue, while her practice vest matched the red of her gloves and boots. The princess dressed like her aunt, although she wore a loose white shirt under her practice vest.

Astra watched Kara's movements as she moved from one form to another, making soft suggestions whenever she made a mistake. Kal, as usual, was harsher in his criticism, not in any way meant to be mean, it was just the way of his order. Kara learned from both, but her aunt's fighting style lent itself better to her size and reach. It also helped her to better control the strength and speed her young body possesses.

Forms finally ended and Kara was practically bouncing on the floor because it was time for her favorite part of practice, Swords. Her instructors learned early in her training that the wooden practice swords all trainees used could not hold up to Kara's abilities. So, she practices with a steel sword, forged especially for her and wrapped in cloth to protect her opponent and herself. Even at such a young age, Kara has shown the ability to not only learn but to adapt when she has a sword in her hand. She has progressed to the point where she now regularly fights two to three opponents at a time, each with strict orders that she not be treated like a princess when in the practice dojo. Kal and Astra both stand by, watching proudly as Kara takes on three skilled warriors at once. Then she misses a simple block and catches a sword in her shoulder.

"Kara!" Her cousin snapped, "you should have seen that attack coming. You have to concentrate on each opponent equally. Just because Non's attacks are weak does not mean he will not get lucky. Now! Again!"

Astra watched quietly, she too had seen the attack coming, and while she was more forgiving of Kara's mistakes, she was disappointed that Kara had missed it. "Young lady, watch the field, use your gifts. You should be able to hear the sword cutting the air before it strikes."

Kara cringed at the rebuke from her relatives, she hadn't seen Non's attack, because Floria was attacking from behind and she was concentrating too much on the more aggressive warrior's attacks. She fell back, took a deep breath, and relaxed. She decided then to try something a bit different. Kara adjusted her grip on her practice sword and pulled the practice dagger from its place on her thigh. Cat's Claw, the ability to use two-bladed weapons in battle was a form her Aunt had created to fit her own fighting style, and she had been teaching it to Kara for the last year. The young princess entered a basic defense stance as her cousin barked, "Begin!"

She predicted Floria's move and brought her dagger up to block the skilled attack. She recognized the strategy the three warriors were using, and she allowed them to think they had the advantage again. Floria worked her way behind Kara, while Non and Urso concentrated on a frontal attack. The warriors in front of her attacked in sync, one high, one low and Kara predicted what was coming, so instead of blocking Urso's high attack, she ducked, blocking Non's low attack with her dagger and bring her sword up and behind her back to block Floria's overhand swing from behind. Then she took advantage of Non's shock and kicked him across the practice floor, spinning to take Floria. who was so surprised by the kick, she almost missed the princess' turn, barely blocking the sword that was coming towards her stomach. She dropped her sword to block Kara's attack and was rewarded with a dagger strike to her neck. "Dead!" Kal called out. Floria was out, and in shock, the girl had moved so fast. Non was still catching his breath when Kara turned on Urso, who backed away quickly, trying to adjust his defense to Kara's speed and change of style. But he was also playing it smart, leading Kara towards Non. Kara smiled, she knew what Urso was up to and waited until he swung his sword high, to trick her into blocking that blow and leaving her legs open for Non to attack. Instead, she spun into Urso's attack and moved left, away from Non, pushing Urso into his partner, causing him to trip and fall to the ground. Kara completed the spin and held her blades at each man's throat. "Well done, Kara!" A rare compliment coming from her cousin's mouth.

Astra smiled, her niece was not only a fast learner, she was learning to improvise as well. "Kara, that was excellent, you not only defeated older, more experienced warriors, you adjusted your strategy on the move without thinking, you let instinct take over."

"Thank you, Aunt Astra." She beamed, "and you Sir, thank you, Kal, for training me."

"Anything for the family, your Highness," Kal answered with a smile. "Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I need to visit the temple and see my father before dinner tonight."

Kara ran up and hugged Kal. "See you tonight, Sir Knight."

Smiling, Kal tussled her hair, "Tonight, cousin."

As Kal walked away, "He's a good man, Kara, an honorable man," Astra said to her niece as they embraced.

"But you are a better teacher, Aunt Astra." Kara smiled as her aunt hugged her.

Later that night after dinner, the royal family retired to their chambers. Kara was settled into her room, but a bad dream woke her about two hours after she fell asleep. She left her room and headed towards her parent's room, only to be caught by her Aunt Astra.

"Little One, what are you doing out of bed?" Astra smiled at her niece.

"Night terrors, Aunt Astra, I was going to see momma." Kara whimpered, just a bit.

"Come here, Kara. What's wrong, Little One?" Astra changed instantly from General to protective aunt, pulling her niece into a hug, then walking towards her chambers.

"I don't know, I can't remember the dream. I lost something, I couldn't find it, it's out there somewhere Aunt Astra, but I don't know what it is." Kara was holding her aunt's hand and stopped and said this as she was looking out one of the windows.

"I tell you what, Little One, how about you stay with me for the night, just like when I used to catch you sneaking down to the kitchens?" Astra asked.

"You don't mind." Kara smiled.

"Of course not, Kara, you may come to me whenever you need to. I'm your Aunt first, your teacher second and your general last of all." Astra smiled.

"Thank you, Auntie." Kara smiled.

Astra took her niece by the hand and they headed first to the kitchen for a small snack and then to Astra's personal quarters. She settled her niece into her bed and set down going over a few reports from her soldiers.

* * *

As her daughter and sister were settling in on the floor below, Alura and her husband had already fallen asleep. The masked assassin lifted himself slowly over the balcony, dropping soundlessly onto the stone. Moving silently, he quickly padded across the room, drawing a wicked-looking dagger from its sheath on his hip. It was the only weapon he was carrying, and hopefully, he would need no others. Kill the king first and then the queen, his orders had said. The king was asleep on his back, baring his throat to his killer. The dagger was as sharp as it looked and what little light there was from the moon outside glinted off the edge just before it bit deep into Zor-El's throat, a hiss of warm air escaping from his throat. Alura stirred, and she rolled over and opened her eyes slowly to see blood gushing from her husband, splattering her across the face. Alura screamed and the assassin instantly reacted, driving a dagger through her heart.

The assassin leapt from the bed when he heard the sounds of booted feet outside the door. He was about to run for the balcony when the door burst from its hinges and a man in blinding white armor with the largest sword the assassin had ever seen was coming towards him. He parried the blade once before he felt its bite through his stomach, then felt himself lifted and saw the balcony coming towards him, the last thing he would see would be the edge of the balcony as his body was flung over it. The darkness claimed him long before his body shattered on the ground below him.

Kal took in the picture of his Uncle's blood, then noticed the rise and fall of the Queen's chest. He was at her side in an instant. "Your Majesty."

"Ka-Kara…" the word escaped as the light left the grey eyes of Alura Zor-El.

A single tear ran down the cheek of the paladin as he dashed from the room.

* * *

Dru Zod, the leader of the Assassin's guild, was moving slowly through the shadows two floors below the royal chambers. His kill had been deemed the most important according to his benefactor, therefore the child, Kara Zor-El was his target. If it bothered him, that he was about to kill a child, his dark eyes showed no sign. He finally arrived at her hallway and saw the doorway of his target, guarded by only two men, members of General Astra's own contingent. Their training meant nothing as two throwing darts embedded themselves in the throats of each man. He pushed the door open slowly, silently entering the room. The bed was unmade, but there was no one in it.

"Dammit," the assassin swore under his breath. "This mission is going to shit."

He moved to the hallway and drug the two dead guards into the room, wiping the excess blood up with one of the princess' sheets. Then he picked the larger man and stripped him of his armor and put it on. He froze as he heard a scream coming from above him. Then quickly pulled up his mask to cover the lower part of his face and lowered the faceplate of the helmet to hide his dark eyes. He moved back into the hallway and headed upstairs. He had to find the princess or the whole assignment would be for nothing.

* * *

Astra heard a scream from above her and was instantly awake, in time to see the shadow of someone entering her room from the balcony. She sensed danger, but her sword was on the other side of the bed, however, like any good soldier, she was still prepared and grabbed the dagger in its sheath strapped to the leg of her desk. The assassin attacked, trying to make it to Kara.

"Kara!" Astra cried out, throwing herself in front of the man, blocking his downward swing.

Kara was up instantly. She screamed as she saw the man and her aunt fighting, but her instincts took over and she rolled off the bed away from the door and dropped onto the floor. She scooted under the bed, exactly as Astra was hoping. She was still on the defensive though, her weapon was not meant for attacking, but she had the assassin on the far side of the bed and could hold him off until help arrived. He struck again and she easily deflected his clumsy blow. Then he was distracted by something outside her balcony and she used the moment to fling an unlit candle and candlestick at him. Then she attacked, flinging herself at the man. Astra rolled across the bed attacking as she stood, she couldn't get to her sword without turning her back and her dagger was too short to get in close, but still, she was forcing him back, his back was almost to the door.

Kal was rushing down the hallway when he heard the ring of steel on steel coming from behind Astra's closed door. He stopped and changed direction, barely slowing as he crashed through the door.

The assassin felt the door behind him shatter and was flung forward. Astra twisted and caught the man in the stomach with her dagger. His shocked eyes were staring directly at her as she pushed him back. Kal was behind the man and he drove his blade through the man's chest. The body of the assassin tensed and then relaxed as his life spilled out onto the floor underneath his feet.

"Kara?" Kal asked.

"Is here with me," Astra said through gritted teeth. "Kara, are you okay?"

The princess climbed out from under the bed and was at her side instantly, clinging to her hip.

A knight rounded the corner, and Astra's grey eyes caught the black of the man's eyes. She held those eyes for a moment, as the man's eyes widened, and he ran back the way he had come.

"Kal!" She growled.

The knight bolted out the doorway, giving chase to the man.


End file.
